Domain tasting is something I’ve been meaning to blog about for a long time. But I’ve found it to be so potentially complex I actually hesitated for a long time.

In light of a new term involving the process, domain front running, and Network Solutions doing their 4-day reservation practice because of it, I’ve decided to write and share what I know and think.

Before I go on, though, I’d like to recap a few things.

First off, every registrar supporting .com domain names is charged a $6.42 fee by the VeriSign COM/NET Registry to register. However, they have a feature, the add/grace period, that allows them to cancel that and get a refund within 120 hours (5 days) of registration.

I recently got confirmation that registrars also pay a fee to avail of that add/grace period. However, it’s more or less a miniscule and affordable one, especially for the bigger registrars like Go Daddy and Network Solutions.

Certain parties have since learned to take advantage of the registrars’ add/grace period to register a domain name and commercially “taste” whatever traffic it can get (hence the name “domain tasting”). They keep those that generate the desired results, and let go of those that don’t.

One observation is that tasters appear to engage in such for unregistered domain names, meaning those that have never been registered at any time. Some discussions with some tasters I know indicate they do so mostly for domain names that don’t (hopefully) infringe trademarks, yet are highly desired keyword search strings.

Over the past 3 years or so, there have been reports from many people wherein they use a registrar’s domain availability search, don’t register the domain name on the spot for whatever reason, and find it taken before they get around to it. A common observation is some of them are released after 120 hours, creating the speculation it’s because of domain tasting.

Inevitably, it’s also spawned wave of complaints of domain names being registered a few minutes or even a few seconds before the user is able to complete his/her order on the spot. The only possibly “reasonable” conclusion derived is someone is somehow “peeking” through the user’s search.

The part I wrote above has since been labeled “domain front running”. I previously blogged that it was coined by the .UK Registry Nominet.

It’s been since widely believed that certain parties are engaging in domain front running to do domain tasting on those domain names. Unfortunately it’s generally hurting consumers’ confidence in using registrars “safely”, more so blaming them for either selling their search queries to others or registering those searches for themselves.

I’ve also seen consistent responses from various registrars, especially the big 3 Go Daddy, eNom and Network Solutions, that they don’t do either one. But that hasn’t stopped others from believing otherwise, going as far as posting online they’re lying through their teeth.

Incidentally, the Public Interest Registry for .org capped a fee to address domain tasting for .org domain names. I forgot where, but I read a report confirming it’s been drastically reduced.

It turns out there was an article written where VeriSign once threatened a few registrars engaging in this to stop it. But VeriSign hasn’t seemingly done anything to address this since that time.

Since then, ICANN has been researching the issue and is expected to come up with a result of its findings, much more recommendations how to deal with it. But…many people aren’t exactly optimistic of their doing something about this (including me), much more sooner.

So in the meantime, what can one do?

If ever you saw an available domain name but didn’t take it on the spot, only to find it registered subsequently, I recommend the following steps:

1. Don’t look up the domain name on your browser.

2. Don’t necessarily contact the registrant of the domain name yet.

3. Make sure your computer is clean of “unwanted guests” such as spyware, viruses, etc.

4. This one’s a rather tall order, but try to check if any plugins, add-ons, etc. your browser is using is potentially feeding data to their providers.

5. Wait for 120 hours (5 days) for the domain name to be possibly released, assuming you’ve done 1-4.

With luck, the domain name might become available for you to register on the spot. Otherwise, it could be registered by another taster and go through the whole thing again before you possibly get a shot.

Most importantly, be ready to register the domain name on the spot. IMHO one good thing about this is it can help knock off the often-times unrealistic expectation that an available domain name will remain that way if you don’t grab it there and then.

I hope this helps somehow. Feel free to comment to share anything you might know, much more if it can be verified independently.

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